fourculture: issue five

ISSUE FIVE | MARCH/APRIL 2013

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

LUCENT DOSSIER G.D. FALKSEN ANNA ROSE

YOUTHKILLS MODEL KAOS CRISTABEL CHRISTO NEEDLE FACTORY

WILLIAM CLOSE TONEAZY soraya Shah ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 1

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

The Artist D

what is

Managing Editor

Paula Frank

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

creative director

Ann Marie Papanagnostou EDITORIAL

Christine Blythe Serena Butler Kathy Creighton Kara Estes Paula Frank Alexandra Oppedisano Annie Shove

Art, music, literature, and compelling societal views that live outside of the box: these are the four pillars of culture that create the world we live in.

Fourculture seeks to bring to the light artists of all mediums. Your contributions to the magazine and the universe are the fuel that brings the movement to life as we reach out around the globe.

WEB DEVELOPMENT

Calling all artists as we join in support of those who are creating the culture of tomorrow.

Rene Trejo, Jr. art

Ann Marie Papanagnostou

let’s chat

let’s get connected

Send correspondence to inquiries@fourculture.com

Artists, musicians & writers . . . we want to hear from you

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

www.fourculture.com © 2012-2013 Fourculture Magazine | Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Model Kaos: Sounds From the Ghost Market...................6 Behold the Powerhouse: Anna Rose................................................12 Frank Cotolo: The Prince of Polo................20 G.D. Falksen: The Gentleman Writer................................22 William Close, Inventive Music....................28 SIRPAUL, The Human Machine..................36 YOUTHKILLS: Their Time Is Now......................................46 Cristabel Christo: The Expression of the Mind........................50 The Lucent Dossier Experience..................60 Soraya Shah: Woman Weaving Old World Into the Modern Day..................70 Needle Factory Pushing the Envelope................................76 Toneazy: All Betz on Him............................80 Beckie Cannons: Social Norms..................84 my four.....................................................86

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAY B. WILSON

who we are The artist d The Artist D has been performing online since the mid 1990s; a relic from the cam show age before social networking was a network, advocate for the rights of the underground, author, painter, columnist, raconteur, provocateur and host of The Fabulous D Show, a radio show broadcast weekly for anybody with a brain in their head. Catering to the freaks, geeks and black sheep of society, he makes the extraterrestrials of culture feel right at home on planet Earth.

CHARLIE DEMOS A graduate of Bennington College, Mr. Demos is an award-winning songwriter, singer, music producer, and performance artist in New York City. He is a spiritual warrior, rabble rouser, Marijuana enthusiast, art-house film lover, and proud father to a Yorkshire Terrier.

SERENA BUTLER Serena “Rena” Butler marches to the beat of a Linn LM-1 Drum Computer. Currently, she remains in a virtual time warp looking to hit that day where replicating a DeLorean time machine becomes reality. Sadly, it has yet to occur; she remains in the current year here to bring you the latest noise making waves in the four pillars of culture. When not working on the magic behind these pages you can find her rummaging the local independent record shops for CDs and vinyl, trying to get past the second level in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker game for Sega Genesis, or mastering The Force just from watching the Star Wars trilogy.

beckie cannons Beckie Cannons is the founder of Transtastic.com and a Trustee at Sparkle, the largest National Transgender Celebration in the world. Apart from that, Beckie is just a go-lucky, party-girl who enjoys going out, having a great time, and spreading the fun of being a "tranny." And she loves being a "tranny!"

FRANK COTOLO Known for his comedic acumen, Cotolo has made his living as a writer and a performer all of his life and during the lives of others. He is the author of the novel License To Skill and has co-authored its screenplay version, Molotov Memoirs, a collection of short stories, The Complete and Unabridged History of Japan, an epic novel, and a serious novella, Sweet Shepherd. Cotolo, born in Brooklyn in 1950, has worked in broadcasting, film, theater, music and television.

kathy creighton Kathy Creighton, a.k.a. Mama Kath, is on a magical mystery tour of current fine, literary, and performance art and wants to bring you along for the ride. How? Besides watching, reading and listening, Kathy sits down with these creators and discusses everything from what inspires them to where their journeys began to how to fix the current A&E industry. She asks the questions you’ve been waiting for someone to ask.

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

© 2012-2013 Fourculture Magazine | Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

PAULA FRANK Writer, painter, music lover, dreamer; Paula’s everchanging Pisces spirit rolls with whatever the tides bring her. Constantly in pursuit of the beauty of art in all its forms, she pours her love for human connections into everything she does, be it writing fiction, interviewing her favorite musicians and artists, painting an emotion, or sharing time with the people she loves. This small town girl has great big dreams and strives to make them reality. She is thrilled to offer them to you, the readers and fellow dreamers. After all, what good are dreams with no one to share them?

ann marie papanagnostou Ann Marie likes to make things pretty. This award-winning designer loves to lose herself in the creative process and is psyched to work alongside amazing individuals who fuel her artistic fire . . . and tolerate her fierce coffee addiction.

She is most content with a beverage in one hand and a mouse in the other.

JAY B. WILSON Jay has been an active photographer for as long as he can remember, starting back in grade school with a Kodak Disc — a truly awful little camera that nonetheless inspired him to pursue photography, a passion that has evolved over the decades. Jay works in the fine art and commercial industries and continues to seek out new perspectives on New York City. He loves to contrast the old and the new, the historic and the modern, the classic and the sleek shapes that rise above us. His work has been featured in Popular Photography, Manhattan Users Guide, Westchester County Department of Tourism, Bronxville Patch, Photographers of Etsy, Photogrunt, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, My Hometown Bronxville and Fourculture.

“No matter how many great things you do in life, it’s the one great thing you didn’t do that wipes all the others off the board.”

P

owerful words, right? They are taken from a movie I recently came across, quite by accident. Written and directed by Michael Worth (who also plays the lead character, Noah) the film God’s Ears is a tremendous glimpse of humanity. On the surface, the film follows a budding romance between an autistic man (Noah played by Michael Worth) and a lonely stripper (Alexia played by Margot Farley). But, as with all great stories, the layers below the surface show us so much more. As Noah fights in the boxing ring and off to be some sort of normal, Alexia strives for some sort of real connection outside the world of show that is all she knows.

Lee Robinson (the owner of the boxing gym where Noah works played by John Saxon) battles with a decision he made long ago and searches for someone to give him faith again. Each with their own struggles, each touched by someone they least expect it from. I was truly moved by the film (hence my mention of it here) and it got me thinking….

As humans, we all have “that fight.” It is basic. It is in all of us every day whether we realize it or not. There are days it is stronger and times when we don’t feel we have any left, but it is always there. It is stronger in some than in others, but we all have it.

It is the need to be heard, to connect, to be understood by someone in this great big world we live in. Whether you are the richest, most popular person on the planet, or the mentally ill homeless person begging for dollars and sleeping on the pavement doesn’t matter. The basic need for human connection doesn’t care who you are or what you do. With every word, every action, every ounce of our being we are fighting to express our feelings, our ideas, our opinions, and our very selves. We enter life crying our need to be fed, changed, or paid attention to. We leave it with epithets and odes to the things we did and what we leave behind. That fight is why we make the choices we do every day and as the beginning quote implies, it is that fight and those choices to do or not do to, to be or not to be (as the great poet said) that can make or break us.

Fourculture magazine exists to celebrate that fight. In every issue we strive to bring you the voices of the underground, those that have made the conscious decision to let themselves be heard. Some speak through music and lyrics, such as our cover story on SIRPAUL or musician Anna Rose who both strive to speak their life experiences through song. Others, like author G.D. Falksen, pull vivid stories from their imaginations, putting pen to paper in hopes that their readers will gain something from the words that they write. Artist Cristabel Christo tells the story of her troubled past through her insightful artwork. Each of these incredible artists said “Yes” when it could have been so much easier to say “No.” They decided to do rather than not to do.

Fourculture Magazine honors those decisions and hope that in sharing these incredible artists, we can facilitate that connection. We fight beside you in this thing called life. May the voices of the underground be heard. May we all feel that thing that makes us all human, that makes us all one. May we all fight.

let’s chat

let’s get connected

Send correspondence to inquiries@fourculture.com

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 5

6 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

sounds from the Ghost Market

by PAUL A FR A NK

From Germany straight to you comes Model Kaos, a band that is gaining quite a following across the internet radio scene and beyond. Comprised of Alex Kittner (vocals, lyrics), SE Rotwang (guitars, backing vocals), and K.G (drums, programming and composing), Model Kaos takes electronic and goth to a whole new level. With influences ranging from The Cure to IAMX and Alex’s Peter Murphy-esque voice, the wall of sound that Model Kaos creates is more like a tidal wave. Their combined experience in the music industry has taught them what it takes to create music that washes over and engulfs the listener, fills their senses, and leaving them gasping for more.

Their new album, Ghost Market, teases and then strikes straight to the heart of what good electronic music should be. Put it on, turn it up, and experience the sensation of Model Kaos.

by paula frank

All of you were well experienced in the music business before beginning Model Kaos. What brought you all together and how did you end up defining the Model Kaos sound?

K.G.: We met through the internet. We all were searching for some musicians to get a band together. I started writing songs before I met S.E. and Alex, and had some songs together.

S.E. and I were working on some of my tracks, and we decided to get more electronic because we couldn`t find any musicians to get a classic rock band for our sound together.

So I started to work on new material, more electronic. When the three of us started working on the tracks we got more and more into a flow, and over 2011 we were recording vocals and guitars to all the tracks I had written until then. I think, through the writing and recording process, we got more and more into the typical MODEL KAOS sound.

SE: Our sound is not really planned or defined in any way.

I’d say our sound evolves anew in every single song. Whenever I listen to one of KG’s song ideas, I don’t have a clue about the way it’s going to sound when it’s finished. It just happens, and usually it does so properly.

You guys are a fairly new band, forming in 2011. What are the greatest challenges you are facing as a young band in the industry?

K.G.: Well, I would say the way newcomer bands are treated here, especially by the “important people.” It’s pretty hard to get taken seriously! Something that really makes us angry is the fact that most of these “important people” ignore all the credits you may have. We got so many really good reviews, or were “artist of the month,” “track of the week,” had regular radio plays worldwide on some of the biggest stations and podcasts and so on, but that doesn`t count for anything if you want to get into the clubs here!

The crazy thing is, we could get shows all over the world, but none in Germany — but it’s changing now...

SE: Getting shows is the most difficult thing.

Your debut LP, Ghost Market, was released in May of 2012.

What was the experience like in putting together your first full length album? How did you finally decide which songs would go on the album?

K.G.: It was great fun working with S.E. and Alex, two absolutely professional musicians. It was fantastic to see how fast we were working on the songs, and it kept me inspired to work on new tracks constantly. I came up with new songs nearly every week, and some of them are on GHOST MARKET. The decisions about which tracks would be on GHOST MARKET were made by all of us, and depended on how happy we were with all the vocal and guitar recordings. We had around 15-17 songs which were nearly finished, but in the end we choose the tracks you hear on GM.

songs can be longer than three minutes without getting boring and that a great chorus, or a great song, is much more important than a crazy looking band! There are so many “artists” out there who are more popular for their style than for their music, pushed by magazines, and that’s pretty sad!

I know we are not the youngest and not looking so cool anymore, but we’ve got a hell of a lot of experience, and we know very well what we are doing!

SE: I hope some people actually feel something when they listen to the songs. To me, music is such a wonderful thing, because just by listening to a song you can actually understand emotionally (if there IS such a thing) what another person feels. That’s great, and I hope this is something we can share with other people.

Any chances we’ll see a video for one of the new songs soon?

K.G.: Yes, some people are working on videos at the moment.

Your sound has been described as gothic future pop. Are you happy with this description? How do you balance keeping part of your sound retro, yet with a foot in the future?

K.G.: The funny thing about this description to me is that it was made by some DJs we know, based in the UK and US, but in Germany we got some negative comments on this. We describe our sound more as a kind of dark electro goth. So how you hear our music is a point of view: for some it’s gothic future pop, and for others it`s more gothic rock. I don`t know...

Honestly, when I am working on new tracks, I never think about if they are too old school or too modern. I just work on the tracks until I like them and I have the feeling they could work for MK. I present them to S.E. and Alex. If they say it`s good, we work on it; if they don`t like it, we don’t...

SE: I don’t really care about the way our music is described.

If you listen to it, you will see what it is like, no matter how you’d label it.

Many musical artists have sought Germany as an inspirational place to go to record or write new music. How have you seen the music scene there develop? How would you compare the industry in Europe to that of the United States?

K.G.: Germany has a really huge music scene, but it’s pretty hard to get accepted. It’s easier for non-German bands to get interest from the promoters and magazines than for a local band. One negative thing is that if you want to get promoted by magazines, most of the time you have to pay for it. So this means that the quality of the music isn`t so important anymore, it’s more about how much money you are willing to pay! Pretty frustrating!

What is the most important thing you hope people can Today, everything is more about X-Factor, Superstars, and take away from your album? all these other casting shows, rather than focusing on real artK.G.: For me, personally, I want to show people that good ists. For example, the guy that won the last “Voice of Germany

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 9

“We have people around the world listening to our music because of amazing internet DJ’s like DJ BronxElf, DJ Cruelbrittiana, The Indie Show with Mark, and Dark Horizons Radio.

However, the internet also makes it harder for bands to get noticed because anyone with a computer can make music regardless of talent or ability.”

Show” has three tours coming up in six months. The eight final singers of “Superstars” are doing a tour, performing in the biggest venues in Germany, all sold out, and they only sing cover versions! That`s crazy: people go to see cover versions and pay a hell of a lot of money, and not for the original artists!

You’ve gotten some good airplay from goth stations across the internet. How do you see internet radio changing things for up and coming musicians? Is it making it easier for bands like you to get noticed or is it making it more difficult with the large amount of bands out there fighting for attention?

Alex: Internet radio and podcasts are amazing tools to get your music out to a worldwide audience at ZERO cost to the band. In the old days it would be almost impossible for an unknown band to get their music heard around the world. We have people around the world listening to our music because of amazing internet DJs like DJ BronxElf, DJ Cruelbrittiana, The Indie Show with Producer Mark, and Dark Horizons radio. However, the internet also makes it harder for bands to 10 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

get noticed because anyone with a computer can make music regardless of talent or ability. The only thing bands can do is make the best music possible and hope that people like a song they hear, then look for more.

You have a show coming up later this year playing with The Cruxshadows. How did this gig come about? Has your sound been influenced by them at all? Who are some of your other more modern influences?

K.G.: I have known the German booker/promoter for years He was the booker of one of my other bands in the 90s. He offered us the gig because he wanted to help us, as he has no capacity to take us under contract. Our sound is more influenced by artists like Gary Numan, The Cure, or new bands like VNV Nation, Covenant, IAMX...

If you could put together the ultimate gig, who would you invite to play, where would it be, and exactly how many smoke machines would you need?

Alex: For me the only band I would dream of opening for

is Peter Murphy and it would have to be at the old Beechum Theater in Orlando, FL. No smoke machines for me, please... simply dim white lighting.

SE: The Cure, The Ramones, DAF. How many smoke machines? As many as the stage can take.

K.G.: I would love to play with Gary Numan, Ultravox and The Cure, wherever they would let us play, and two smoke machines ;-)

SE: The only thing I love more than sauerkraut is goosestepping.

What is the most goth piece of clothing any of you own?

Alex: My gothic football jersey that is black and says MODEL KAOS on the front, my name on the back, and the number 13.

K.G.: My new rock boots, I guess.

SE: A white shirt with the words “front” on the front and “back” on the back.

Any plans for playing an album tour some day?

K.G.: We have plans for touring, but we still have a problem getting gigs here. We are discussing a UK tour. But we will see... What were your New Year’s Resolutions for 2013 for Model Kaos?

Do you all like sauerkraut? What is your favorite kind of K.G.: Keep on working on new songs for the next album, food to eat when working on your music? and promoting the band constantly till we are at the top!

Alex: I love sauerkraut with gluten free, grass-fed beef sausage!!

K.G.: I hate sauerkraut! I love all kind of Indian and Thai www.model-kaos.com food. When I am working on the songs, I usually drink a glass of dark dry Spanish or French red wine.

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 11

12 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

BEHOLD THE POWERHOUSE:

by Paula Frank

Anna Rose by any other name would still spell rock. This petite woman with the powerhouse voice is spilling it all out on her second album release, Behold A Pale Horse.

The talented songwriter mixed her personal stories with a bit of the indie, a touch of the blues, a fistful of rock, and a whole lot of passion for what she does to create an album that truly shows the listener what she’s made of, and it isn’t sugar and spice. As I spoke with Anna, we talked everything from her Disney past, to her band and touring, to her hopes for the new album. Keep an eye out this year for all this amazing musician has in store!

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 13

We’re so excited to have you in our pages!

I’m so excited too! Thank you so much!

I’m a little baby artist so it’s nice to get out there when I can.

That’s what we do. We do baby artists that don’t have million dollar backing but have incredible talent the world should hear.

I love what you guys are about and I believe in that, too. There’s so many artists out there that aren’t getting the funding because they aren’t what’s on the radio, but what’s playing on the radio isn’t necessarily the most diverse music you could ever hear.

A lot of times I do stay in my cave of rock music and blues and a lot of it is older. But, once I get my head out of Led Zeppelin’s ass I can see what’s going on. I’ve gotta say I’ve been listening to a lot of Rihanna and I’m kind of liking it, not gonna lie.

The song I really love of hers, “Diamonds,” was written by Sia and now it makes sense why I like that song. As a songwriter I always appreciate those moments of realizing it really is all about the songwriter. I have a lot of respect for that as a songwriter — to be able to take yourself out of the equation and let someone like Rihanna record your song and do a really great job with it.

Would you have trouble letting go of one of your songs for someone else to do?

I don’t think so. As I get older and continue working in the music business…if I’m very attached to a song then I know it’s meant for me and it needs to go on one of my records. There are songs that I write that I’m just not personally attached to in the way that I feel like I’m telling my story or I’m the performer that has that story to tell. I just kind of know that there are other artists who are meant for that. That’s exciting and refreshing for me. It allows me to put my songwriting ability into another place. It’s what my dad does, so I’m actually quite comfortable with it because I grew up around it.

I wanted to touch on your background with your dad being who he is (Anna’s father is Oscar-winning Disney composer Alan Menken) and your mom was a dancer, right?

Yeah, my mom was a ballet and modern dancer and they actually met in their early 20’s. My dad was writing a rock ballet and my mom was dancing in it. They have a very fairytale story for the craziness that ensues in my house.

Obviously you grew up in a very musical household then, but you went a different direction. Your dad does Disney, your mom is ballet and modern, and you ended up blues and rock and roll, so where did that come from?

I think a lot of it did come from my dad.

Some of my fondest memories with my dad are taking these little drives together, and one of the first things he exposed me to was the Beatles. After that, the Rolling Stones and Little Feet and there was a whole slew of bands he loved. When he saw how attached I was, he started exposing me to more of them. Then, when I started playing guitar, especially when I started playing with Arlen Roth, he played everything for me and that’s when I got into Jimi and blues and Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy and really exploring blues in general.

Did it help you when you finally decided that you wanted to do this as your career to have the family that you do? Did you know more of what you were getting into in regards to “the business?”

Definitely from the business side. I knew more about what I was getting into and what I was risking in a lot of ways and what I was going to be giving up. At the same time there was not a day in my life that I didn’t know. I never wanted to be an astronaut. I rode horses and danced but I never thought that’s what I would do as an adult. I always knew I wanted to grow up and be a musician. I started playing open mic nights and little coffee houses from very early on, so my parents were kind of reconciled with that from the beginning. Really early on my dad started taking me on business trips with him when he had recording sessions in LA to see the orchestra record and how a recording studio worked in general. I’d sit in the room with the mixing board and hear everyone discussing it and producing things and I fell in love with it even more.

That’s great you had that family support.

Yeah, I feel so lucky to have that but even more lucky to have parents who when I said “I don’t think I’m going to finish college. I think I’m going to do this now and play clubs and see if I can really do this,” they allowed me to do it and accepted it and were proud of me and happy for me.

They’ve been behind me for a long time and believed that I could do it on a larger level before I really did. I don’t want to say there’s too much struggle because I am the daughter of someone in the music business, and so in that way I did understand things that maybe other people didn’t. But I had a target on my back because I was my father’s daughter at the same time. People thought they could expect what they were going to hear from me. It was going to be something musical theater or something that was more theatrical and not rock and roll. So it was unexpected. For some people it was very easy to say “no, thank you” before even listening.

Everyone ends up paying their dues in one way or another.

It’s kind of a joke that you look very sweet and quiet and Anna Rose is a lovely name and then you open up your mouth and you have this amazing powerhouse voice with this rock vibe and blues mix.

Have you ever had times when someone was completely shocked by that?

Oh yeah, definitely! Even people within the business have said they expected a voice like Brittney Spears. Granted, I used to sing demos for some of my dad’s Disney stuff. I can do a good princess voice. I know I can. But it’s not my genuine voice coming from my heart and the things that I write. It’s

16 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

“Everyone faces death and people dying around them in their lives and I’ve had my fair share of it.

It’s the way I’ve been able to reconcile those things in a healthy and productive way and even in the way of letting go of parts of yourself.”

Have you played with the same guys for a while now?

Yeah. We perform under my name and I guess I write or co-write with one other person. It’s been the same guys who have played on both records. I don’t tour without them. If I have to sub out a player, I guess I will. But I certainly don’t go on tour without Adam Soler, my musical director and my lead guitar player. This sound, especially with Behold a Pale Horse, they embraced what I wanted to do on this record and really felt I was coming into my own. They really pushed me to go there just as much as I pushed myself. All of these arrangements are all of ours. I write songs. They help me bring them to life and where I want to bring them on stage.

and the arrangements are different. We were already kind of on our way there.

As I started to look at Pale Horse, I kind of felt this fear gripping me. I felt the pressure of making a great record, sure. But it wasn’t the pressure of making a second record. It was more about making a record that was really honest about where I am now, not taking the easy road and doing a singer/songwriter record, but really doing something that was genuine to who I am and where I want to continue as an artist which I think sets me apart from other people. I really just grew a pair and did it. It took me a while to embrace the rock side of things because internally I thought, “Is anyone going to believe this? I am this little blonde chick.” People that know me and people that have seen me live were like “Hell yeah! We’re with ya!” but I had to believe it too. I felt it coming. It was this little thunderstorm that I could feel coming and then we started to write the songs for the album and I was like, fuck…I love Hendrix and I love Zeppelin and I’ve loved rock and roll for so many years. It’s been such a huge part of who I am and what I love to listen to and I hadn’t really allowed it to come through yet. I didn’t know how to marry it into my own material.

So you had the first full-length album, Nomad. It’s very singer/songwriter and then you get to Behold a Pale Horse which seems a lot more in your face — more gritty and down to it and powerful.

Coming into the new album, did you feel any of the pressure of having to make this album different and better, or was it just more of a natural progression for you? Did you feel any of the second album jitters?

When I wrote Nomad and recorded it, I was 21 or 22 years old and still living in LA. It took a few years to get that record out and by the time it came out, I had really moved on from those songs to the point that I was working with my vocal coach on how to even really get into the songs again and embrace them. I was at that midpoint where I was really ready to get onto a new record but I still needed to perform those songs, because it took so long to get that record out. If you see videos of us performing after the record came out, you’ll see that we’re performing those songs but they’re being played much heavier. I’m singing them much differently

You do have so many genres. You pull from blues and rock and roll and you have the indie songwriter thing. So how do you take all those different pieces and pool them into creating a new song that’s all yours?

A lot of it is really unintentional during the songwriting process itself. If I’m writing a song, I try to write it as honest and true to myself as I can without allowing it to be affected by what genres I want it to be tinted with or how I want to paint the picture in the end when we go into production. It’s actually more in the studio when I’m recording the stuff that other things come in. I take a lot of notes and I’ll go through things that are influencing me at the moment and that’s when I’ll pull that stuff back. I’ll say “You know that Fiona Apple Criminal album and those drums at the beginning? That’s what I want here.” That’s when I’ll start pulling those things from different places, but not until the song is finished. If I’m trying to write a song and I think I want to write a song that Sheryl Crow would write, by the end it’s no

more of a character. But it’s fun to put that stuff on when I want to. People have definitely been shocked. Now my band mates will get a kick out of it if we’re in rehearsal and I’m over singing one of my songs or something and we’re going through another piece. I’ll smack right into princess mode and they get a kick out of it. Now it’s the reverse. Now I’m not shocking people with my big-ass voice. It’s shocking when I’m actually sounding like a girl.

longer an Anna Rose song. I find that when I write like that, I’m often times less attached to the song.

Let’s talk about the new album, Behold a Pale Horse. The pale horse is a reference to death in many cultures. How did you come out having that theme? Do you have a favorite song from the album?

I was really struggling with allowing this darker, more rock part of me as a writer and an artist to come through. I was realizing it felt really correct and really great and I thought maybe I found my place within the music industry and this is where I’m supposed to be. I just kept seeing the phrase “behold a pale horse” pop up everywhere. I take those things with some sort of seriousness in seeing those signs and trying to apply them to my life. Ultimately what I came out with was that there’s a cyclical nature to life and that death is not death. It’s the beginning to another part of your life — another phase to wherever you go next. There’s a darkness to it, but I think there’s also an incredible lightness. Everyone faces death and people dying around them in their lives and I’ve had my fair share of it. It’s the way I’ve been able to reconcile those things in a healthy and productive way and even in the way of letting go of parts of yourself.

When I left college, I chose to go out and play music every day and to be playing all these venues on Sunset Strip and get laughed at by these bikers while I stood there solo with my acoustic guitar. I actually really got a kick out of it, but there was a real death to whatever societal norms I would have in my life. I had to be okay with the fact that I wasn’t going to be one of those kids who was going to graduate from college.

I had to be okay with the fact that I’m a musician and I think differently than other people and I feel things differently and I had to go through that wave of ‘it’s okay to be different’. You have phases when you have to remind yourself of that.

There are these deaths in your own life too. I think the death theme sometimes scares people off and makes people think I’ll be a little too intense, but I feel an incredible lightness in it and a calm. It felt correct to use that as the title and it was the only one I wanted.

As to a favorite, I don’t pick favorites, but I’ll get really involved with a certain song during a set of performances. For three or four shows in a row I’ll be obsessed with playing a particular song in a show. Then I’ll kind of move on to another one. In regards to recording them, I really love all the material and I can pick out which songs are sort of where I’m going next, too. I can hear certain songs and say, this is what moves me from album two to album three.

You did the video for the title track and first single, “Behold a Pale Horse,” and you went to Wales to film it. How did that come about? Was that your concept all the way along?

I had an initial idea, and it was more for the cover of the album. On the cover you see that it’s a dark horse covered in sort of this white powder and the powder is coming off. It was part of this recurring dream I was having as I was writing the album. It was within this pale horse concept that it’s not really the pale horse called death. It’s actually a dark horse that’s parading as the pale horse and that it’s not really death, but life and a different form of life. That was the initial image that had come to my mind and when I started thinking imagery, I thought of Jennifer Tzar. She had done the photos for Nomad and I knew it had to be her. She has this incredible marriage between fantasy and reality in her work. I came to her and she had just done a shoot in Scotland and had gone through Wales and started doing research on the area. I said “Fuck it.

Let’s do it. I want to make an epic video and that’s where we’re going to do it.”

It was really fun to make and the crew was awesome. It was very challenging. It went from being really nice weather to being freezing with snow everywhere. We woke up the first day of shooting and they were apparently airlifting people off the mountains who had been hiking. The horse was in a different area and they couldn’t get it out of the driveway because of the snow.

There were a lot of challenges, but we came out the other side with a really beautiful video and I’m really proud of it.

Do you have another video planned?

We have a second video. We did it in London before we went to Wales and filmed a video for “Beautiful World.” So, that video is done and I’m keeping it very close to the vest for a while until the time is right.

And when is the album coming out? I know it just says coming soon on the website.

We’re going to keep it with the coming soon for now. We’re planning on doing some pretty exciting stuff during the release and releasing little bits at a time while I’m on the road and promoting the album. I want to gain

people’s interest and keep people interested, but I also believe really strongly in live music, so I want to be releasing stuff as I’m on the road performing it. I want people to come and fall in love with the music live too, and not just hear the record and think that’s enough. Live music is such an incredible experience. It’s not the same listening to a record. It’s very different from experiencing a performer and I want those two things to be married to each other as I’m releasing the record.

Are you going to be touring countrywide?

I hope so! I’m going to do whatever I can financially do. Definitely east coast as that’s where I am. Right now we’re trying to figure out some shows in Canada and some college towns along the east coast. I definitely want to head out west. I’m not sure what the festival season holds for me either, so a lot of stuff is up in the air right now and I think it will come crashing down in a good way.

In the meantime, be sure to check out Anna Rose at Arlene’s Grocery in NYC on March 6th!

www.annarosemusic.com

the ultimate music experience: music | networking | 24/7 ONAIRTUNES.COM

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 19

The Prince of Polo

By Frank Cotolo

T

hey didn’t once call me the Prince of Polo for nothing, even if nothing was my reward for being a star in this recondite sport. This sterling gambol of the suave and the salient is the original “sport of kings,” so to be a prince is to stand among the elite in its theater. Once, I stood that way. My pathetic, as well as ludicrous and duplicitous story can finally be told since no one else but I will tell it.

20 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

In case you don’t know, polo was originally called pulu when established in India as a sport in 1834. Pulu was the name of the wooden ball used in the game, which was first played as water pulu in the Bay of Bengal. Too many horses drowned so the game was brought inland. British military officers introduced the game to Great Britain while occupying India. Their handwriting was so poor that the letter “u” looked closed and like an “o” and everyone began to call it polo.

During the first wave of British polo, a disreputable Frenchman named Couteau went to England and sold horses to polo players. Unbeknownst to Couteau, one of his horses was skilled at running and became a top sire of the Polo breed.

This stud, whose name was Apathy, began a classy bloodline that continued to produce top polo equines long after Couteau was run out of England (he was indicted for lewd behavior in public with a Shepherd and his pie).

Apathy’s bloodline produced progeny

quickly. His colts were as talented as he and included the noted stallions Indifference (sire of Nonchalance), Stolidity (sire of Impassiveness), and Phlegm, the colt I inherited.

Phlegm’s owner, a “patron” (an owner of polo teams) incognito, using the name Mansfield, was killed in a rickshaw accident while selling illegal word games in Hong Kong. In his will, he bequeathed Phlegm to me.

His will read: “Because his father saved me from drowning in the Black Sea (by cracking open my concrete shoes) and did so while experiencing a severe case of bronchitis, I named this polo horse after expectorated matter, the saliva mixed with discharges from respiratory passages. I give him to Raffaello’s only son and encourage the boy to use the pony for the function in which the colt was bred.”

I was living in Los Angeles at the time Phlegm was shipped to me. After a twomonth quarantine, I was allowed to take possession of him. The bay pony and I

bonded immediately with the help of an apple, a cube of sugar, and a thorough hand cleaning of his sheath (the tube of skin that protects the penis). I knew little about horse anatomy, but I thought it was pure logic that anyone could befriend a stallion with a tender sheath cleaning.

My Hollywood apartment was far too small to accommodate a horse. Having one with the renowned bloodline of Apathy, I was easily accepted into The Golden State Polo Club and allowed to stable Phlegm at a facility in Indio.

“And who will be riding, sir?” said Mr. Galewind, the club’s resident president.

I thought for a moment and became immersed in reverie. “I will, of course,” I said with blind conviction.

To learn the ropes, I engaged the world’s greatest polo expert, Chaps Bombachas. “It is a simple game,” Chaps said. “You ride to the ball. You hit the ball. You ride to the ball. You hit the ball. You ride to the ball … are you getting this down?”

It was very difficult at first. I would get the two directions confused, sometimes hitting the ball before riding to it and other times riding to the ball before hitting it. As well, I bounced a lot on Phlegm’s back and almost always fell. It appeared hopeless and I was missing the ball with my mallet every time.

I asked Chaps about this problem.

He said, “No wonder you are missing the ball. You are using a Pogo stick, not a polo stick. I suspect this is also why you are always bouncing when you ride.”

Sam Derma was a custom mallet maker. He measured my arm, my swing—and for some reason examined my prostate—and then crafted me a mallet “stiff in the top half to three-quarters of the shaft and with a bit of flex at the tip.” Using it, I began to play better and I became so good that my team members thought it was time I learn the rules. The rulebook was so thick and boring that I fired through a few chapters, picked up some important game rules, and told the team I was well versed and ready to play.

It didn’t take long for my lack of knowledge and experience to surface.

Our team headed west to a field near Lake Hemet to play a match and mem-

“You ride to the ball. You hit the ball.

You ride to the ball. You hit the ball.

You ride to the ball …are you getting this down?” bers of the opposing team were quick to ask why I was holding my mallet with my left hand (I had neglected to read the rule about sole right-hand usage). I had to think quickly so I told them they were wrong. I was using my right hand.

My team members took my side simply because it was a measure of team unity no matter the foul. Luckily, the closer of two mounted umpires sided with them (later that week I discovered that my teammate, Aloysius, was having an affair with the umpire).

That was just the beginning to a stream of luck that allowed me to imitate playing well while incurring remarkable game infractions. The more I found out about the improprieties of everyone connected to the sport, the more I was able to use that information as a force to compel everyone to overlook my reprehensible field antics. Meanwhile, onlookers, always unable to see exactly what is happening due to the sheer size of the field and speed of the action, applauded my performances as if I were using talent and skill as my weapons.

The public made me a star calling me “the Prince of Polo.” People bought gifts for Phlegm and me and trysts were requested secretly from women of the high echelons. I was invited to expensive restaurants and homes, some millionaires named their first born after me (no matter the sex), and I continued to enjoy the undeserving praise through two seasons of play.

Then, in season three, the bottom fell out as all of my bribe material became moot. Aloysius got my attention in the team room before a game and told me he broke up with the umpire.

“I fell in love with you,” he said, tears cascading from his eyes. “And so has Rialto [the umpire]. We fought over who

would have you. I won in a violent bout that hurt Rialto so badly he was sent to the hospital.”

“Oh no,” I said, “why me?”

“Because you are the Prince of Polo, so supple, so smooth, and with such a sensuous swing. When you hold your mallet, I cannot stay firmly aboard my mount because you excite me so. If Rialto doesn’t press charges, I want you, always, to be mine.”

The replacement judge, Talius Bumstead, began to call fouls on Aloysius as my new admirer foundered on the field heartbroken because I would not give in to him. The team began to lose and Aloysius hit the bottle and when his former love, Rialto, was released from the hospital only to be found half dead with his head in an oven and the words “Prince of Polo Doesn’t Love Me” carved by a stiletto on his rump, the press turned against me, The Golden State Polo Club barred me, and Phlegm lost a testicle to cancer as diagnosed by a vet that said it was caused from over cleansing of the sheath.

The only good that came from it all was that after I donated Phlegm to equine science, the pony was cured and adopted by a Chinese fellow who was a rickshaw driver in Hong Kong. Phlegm spent his final years pulling a vehicle identical to the one that killed the man known as Mansfield who bequeathed Phlegm to me. Some strange justice prevailed in that occurrence.

Aloysius eventually moved to Seychelles, one of the smallest countries in the world, where his former lover, Rialto, followed him seeking revenge but was so moved by Aloysius’ portrayal of Sir William Lucy in a version of Shakespeare’s Henry VI that he forgave Aloysius, moved to Newark, New Jersey and opened a liquor store.

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 21

G. D. Falksen The Gentleman Writer

by A lexandra O pped isano photographs by anna fischer

24 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

A

uthor, blogger, lecturer, and consummate gentlemen; these are just a few of the words that could be used to describe G.D. Falksen. Through his love of history and science, he has made a splash in the Steampunk world, although this is but a portion of his works. Writing across genres, G.D. Falksen creates imaginative and interesting tales involving rich characters covering the gamut from steampunk to science fiction to the paranormal. The first book in his series The Hellfire Chronicles, entitled Blood in the Skies, may have gotten him on the map but with all the stories this man has to tell, he will certainly have no trouble staying there. His latest series, The Ouroborus Cycle, as well as his many short stories in various publications keep this gentlemen creating and we couldn’t be more pleased. If you’re looking for some great reading, you can find G.D. sipping tea in his suit and working on his ever growing catalog of tales, or just read what he has to say here and check out his sites below.

How did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I have wanted to be a writer since I can remember. I did a lot of writing in middle school and high school. In college, I came to the realization that I really did want to try to be a full-time author.

That has been my career path ever since.

its own themes, sometimes a specific plot arcs within a book may have their own themes. I would say I choose those themes partly because I find them interesting to work with and partly because I think they are of very real importance and should be a part of the literary discourse.

What is your favorite work you have written to date?

I have to say my favorite work of mine is my most recent one, A Monster’s Coming Of Age Story, which is the first book in the Ouroboros Cycle series. It’s a Victorian paranormal adventure story with romance, tragedy, daring, science, vampires, werewolves, cults, and intrigue. It’s fully illustrated (my personal attempt to help bring back the illustrated novel). I am extremely proud of how it turned out in all regards and I have Who are your favorite writers?

There are many writers I enjoy so it would be hard to name high hopes for it. specifics with too much certainty, but I will admit a special fondness for Lovecraft, Conan Doyle, Dickens, Verne, and Wells. Who is your favorite character you have ever written?

That’s hard to say because I really am extremely proud of There are many others. On the non-fiction side of things, I very most of my characters. Even ones I dislike as people, I find satismuch enjoy Liddell Hart and Keegan again among others. fying in their villainy. I am tempted to say my favorite character is Your steampunk writing has gotten you the most attention. Babette Varanus, the protagonist of A Monster’s Coming Of Age Story. She was a very challenging character to write, very comWhat drew you to the genre?

Steampunk is one of many genres that I write, but it’s defi- plex which was quite rewarding. Also the story follows Babette nitely the one I have been the best known for (though my most from her teen years into her thirties, so I’m very pleased with recent novel, The Ouroboros Cycle: A Monster’s Coming Of Age the character evolution that takes place. But there are certainly Story, is a paranormal adventure with vampires). I study history others I’m very proud of as well. and one of the fields I most enjoy is the history of science and technology. Science and technology get extremely interesting What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Advice for aspiring writers: First of all, find your voice. It’s once the Industrial Revolution occurs. So writing steampunk (i.e., going to be a lot of work and take a long time and your voice will 19th Century science-fiction) was a natural fit. change over time, but you want to be writing in your voice not With many authors, certain themes tend to recur throughout trying to write in someone else’s. Write stories that you would their works. Is there a theme that you find yourself writing want to read (if you don’t like them, you can’t really expect others about in many of your works? If so, why do you think that to). Always keep writing. The more you write, the better you get. particular theme resonates with you?

I’m not sure if it’s entirely for me to say what themes are in I see that you have attended various events including large my books (I prefer to let the reader analyze and draw their own conventions like New York Comic Con. What is your favorite conclusions), but I would say that when writing my works I often aspect of speaking at conventions and other events? Do wrestle with ideas like individuality versus the community, the you prefer talking about your work to larger crowds or in need for equality, freedom versus duty, and the struggle for fair- smaller group or one-on-one settings?

I do a lot of public appearances and lectures. I really enjoy ness and justice often against the opposition of entrenched tradition. But really, each book has its own themes, each series has speaking to people and informing people about things. I also reWhere do you derive most of your inspiration from?

My inspiration comes from a wide range of sources. A lot of my ideas simply develop during brainstorming or they may come to me when I’m doing something entirely different (long car rides are especially good for brainstorming ideas). I find inspiration in a great many things, especially historical events and persons.

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 25

“...writing is so fundamental to my identity I don’t know what I would do otherwise. I think that’s the case with all artists.

You just have to make art or else you’d go crazy.” ally enjoy hearing the questions that people have and answering them. I suppose you could say that I enjoy teaching. I also really enjoy meeting my fans and getting to speak to them. I actually run a weekly Livestream chat with my fans for that purpose. It’s great getting to meet them and answer their questions.

Your website is through tumblr. You have a Twitter account, a Facebook account, and even Pinterest. How has having an active social media presence helped you in your career?

I would say that social media is very important. It’s all ways to connect with fans of my writing so that I can share my ideas and hear their thoughts about my work. I really think that there should be more open and active communication between people. Social media makes that possible in ways that really never existed before.

I read that you are the lead writer on a steampunk video game. How was writing in the video game genre different from writing short stories or novels?

Well, in some respects all writing is basically the same. You have a setting, characters, and a plot that unfold. With video games, visual content is provided by the game itself so it’s very much a dialogue-heavy kind of writing (script writing basically).

Of course, you have to take into account the way that gameplay has to interact with plot. It’s a very interesting method of writing, actually.

What is a typical day like for you? Do you have a set writing schedule every day or are you more flexible with your time?

I usually do most of my writing at night. I find it easier to concentrate, but with the way my schedule is I usually have to be pretty flexible. I travel a lot and other things may come up so I can’t always keep a specific set time block for writing.

I understand that you have written novels set in the video game’s universe. Was this a more interactive process than what you are used to? How did it compare to writing standalone material?

Writing Blood In The Skies, the novel in the AIR setting, was very much like writing any other novel. It’s in a previously established setting so I had to make sure it fit in context, but having If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing with your life? headed the writing team that wrote that setting, it was pretty easy Honestly, writing is so fundamental to my identity I don’t know going. However, I’m aware that had I been writing in a setting that what I would do otherwise. I think that’s the case with all artists.

I did not create myself, it would have been much more challenging. You just have to make art or else you’d go crazy. Even if you do other work alongside your art, you’re still an artist/writer/musician Do you listen to music while you write or use or create other first and everything else second. mediums of art to help you in your writing process?

I sometimes listen to music or watch movies while I work. What current projects are you working on?

Sometimes I don’t. The background noise can help me think as Well, both the Ouroboros Cycle and the Hellfire Chronicles I go, but really, when I’m actually writing I work best without any are series so the next books in each will be coming out. I’m doing disturbances, music included. So I’ll often start music when I sit a bunch of consultation work that unfortunately I can’t discuss at down then pause it when I write down text then turn it back on if this time and I have a new series that I’m working on as well. I I have to think again. tend to keep pretty busy, but I’m very pleased about it.

www.gdfalksen.com 26 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

Jay B. Wilson Photography P h oto g r a p h y f ro m N e w Yo r k C i t y a n d t h e Wo r l d

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 27

By K athy Creighton

I n v e n t i v e

M u s i c

Some people’s curiosity leads them to invent new ways to generate power, or construct a new type of building, or discover a wonder drug. Other curious people are programmed to delve into the arts and find new ways to create. One particular man’s mind, like other inquisitive musicians, turns to sound — new ways to create it, ways to make different and unique sounds, building the instruments to make those sounds and, finally, composing and arranging musical compositions with those instruments. One guy? Really? Yes! His name is William Close and up until last summer, there were not many people that had any knowledge of this sonic wunderkind and his amazing instruments.

W

illiam Close started life in the Westchester County suburbs of New York City in 1970. He was artistic by nature and had family already expressing their designing talents as architects and visual artists. Being so close to “the city” he was exposed to art and culture regularly. William quickly found his talent for music, with a passion for percussion. Somewhere between the ages of nine and ten he turned to non-traditional instruments for the first time when he used coconuts as a set of drums. Towards the end of his grammar school years he became fascinated with playing spoons.

From there he just kept experimenting with

anything he could make sounds with. He also belonged to a number of garage bands through high school.

After graduation, Close moved to “the Windy City” where he attended the Art Institute of Chicago and achieved a bachelor’s degree in fine art but music continued to call to him. Once he really got into creating new instruments, it wasn’t a stretch that he should do his graduate work in music and composition.

But why and how did his instruments get so large? William has been a long-time fan of large-scale installation art and sculpture.

Some of his favorite artists include Christo and Alexander Calder. Also, the architec-

tural design in his background gave him an appreciation for large structures. Together these influences eventually led to the creation of The Earth Harp and its first installation across a valley with strings 1000 feet long. William said that that installation was definitely inspired by Christo. The Harp, even before it was played, was visual art.

Today Close continues to perfect The Harp. He has built forty different resonators, the chambers that are the point of origin for the strings and control their tones.

Each string is equipped with a control block.

These blocks are used to tune the Harp.

The termination point of the strings can be a geographical feature in the natural land-

scape, the exterior of a building or the interior of a room within it. The terminus becomes part of this great instrument. One of the challenges in creating The Earth Harp was the strings themselves. William did a lot of searching until he found something at a recycling center that would work. He took it to a friend in Chicago and they figured out how to manufacture the strings. Now they are turned out in rolls.

William is completely fascinated with sounds in general, but especially those created naturally by the Earth and its environment. Wind blows through the trees, causing leaves to rustle and branches to creak. He says he remembers learning somewhere that the sounds of a stream and waves crashing contain almost every possible frequency of sound. The one man-made instrument that can achieve this is the gong, probably one of the most primal instruments once humans discovered metals and how to work with them. We also created other instruments from simpler things before that; drums from hollow or rotting trees, rudimentary sound chambers from gourds. William Close finds inspiration from other sound combinations created by the natural and the man-made, mainly wind and the tension structures of a sailboat. Being an avid sailor, he is very familiar with the flap of the sails, the hums created by the rigging above the water, and the control cable of a centerboard below it. These sounds are some of the many that are included in the Earth Harp’s repertoire.

The original interview for this feature actually happened in March of 2012. However, a tweet from the creative director of Fourculture ended up putting the project on hold. She posted that she had just seen William and The Earth Harp on America’s Got Talent. Having missed it, a visit to NBC’s website was needed to confirm this news.

Yes, William Close had indeed made it to the televised segment of the audition process for the show and was being passed through to the competition. It didn’t take long to realize that this situation was going to involve contracts, which would probably not allow for any press without the network’s approval. This was indeed the case. William would not be the cover story of the debut issue of the magazine. The interview and the feature were shelved until official clearance was received. That happened in early January of this year.

America’s Got Talent was a huge break for William, The Earth Harp and the MASS Ensemble. These amazing instruments were introduced not only to U.S. TV viewers, but the episodes were viewed internationally on the network’s website and on YouTube.

Asked about surprises to the cast and crew of AGT, Close explained that the producers actually found him. They then went through 32 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 33

videos and were pretty sure they had found an act that would do well. They brought him in for talks to determine if he would translate well on camera, attract viewer’s interest and be easy to work with. Probably the biggest surprise came to William and his team when they showed up for the taped audition. They were allowed THIRTY MINUTES to set up the Harp. He said it was the fastest installation they had ever done. Going forward though, he did have the help of the show’s crew. The learning curve for installation is actually not very technical, so once they got past freaking out and completed the first installation, the tech director and the stage crew quickly realized that they could set it up and take it down fairly easily.

Speaking of the reactions of the AGT folks, first William stated that the studio judges Sharon Osborne, Howie Mandel and Howard Stern had not seen The Earth Harp before that first televised performance, so their reactions were genuine. They were in awe of it and truly loved William.

After the finals, where Close finished third in the competition, America’s Got Talent scheduled a two-and-a-half month long run for his act in Las Vegas. William and his team had never done a gig like this. Already apprehensive about this show, they were thrown the obstacle of not being allowed to bring their full team. But they succeeded at learning on the fly and the run was a success. Now they have the experience of putting a big show together, experience they can call on if they need it in the future.

A question that comes up when talking to performers who have come through community festival events such as Burning Man, Lightning In A Bottle and even Coachella, then move into more conventional audiences in a theater environment is: what differences do they note? Close said he finds that in a seated theater situation, the performance can be more detailed as the audience is very tuned into it. But in a festival situation, many times the musicians and the instruments are part of a bigger experience, so it is a broader, more flexible style. He says they are both positive, just in different ways.

Since the end of the Vegas show, William and the Ensemble have done more touring. The most recent interview done for this article happened right after he returned from Dubai. He also recorded an album titled “Holidays” which includes many traditional Christmas songs and two original pieces written for The Earth Harp. The list of the producers is impressive. They came from music, film and television and included the likes of Grammy Award winner Ken Cummings (Celine Dion, Smokey Robinson, Les Paul tribute albums), Joel Douek (“The Wildest Dream,” “Flying Mon34 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

sters 3D,” “Life”), Jesper Kristensen (Wilson Phillips, Pete Anderson of Dwight Yoakam, Bryce Soderbergh of Lifehouse), acclaimed alternative rock duo The Controversy and producer/vocalist Lisbeth Scott (Shrek, Spiderman, Avatar, Iron Man). William does credit the chance to secure some of this talent to America’s Got Talent. However, some are old acquaintances. The album was released with the help of Julian Schwartz and Andrew Cohen of Art House Live.

It has long been William’s dream to find a way to record The Earth Harp properly.

Part of the ability to do that came through tragedy. Two years ago, William’s house burned down. It has been rebuilt on the original footprint, which just happens to be on a piece of land in the mountains. On Christmas Eve, the local Fox affiliate came to his and fiancee Sarah Werrin’s home and set up shop in the new studio. From there they broadcast a live performance of “Silent Night.” The camera crew panned throughout the space making sure to feature the opening in the studio through which the strings of the Earth Harp extend. They are anchored on the mountainside. With this design feature it has created a space where William has been able to make high quality recordings. Now he can continue to produce albums and share his music with people who are not able, for one reason or another, to experience a live performance of The Earth Harp and the MASS Ensemble along with people that want to be able to listen whenever and wherever they are.

Besides the stress of losing his house, William Close has had a lot to deal with recently. AGT, getting engaged, becoming a father, recording and touring. The January interview was done while William and Sarah were on the road to an event that was their first night out as grown-ups since Phoenix was born. However, when speaking to him, he is always so calm. How does he deal with the stress? Or is cool and collected just a facade? He says that most sources of stress can be looked at as challenges, a sport if you will, to be taken on and won.

That works most of the time. When it gets really heavy though, Close will take to the waves on a surfboard or sailboat, or hop on his mountain bike, ride up to a ridge and watch the sunset.

America’s Got Talent has broadened the audience of The Earth Harp, and since the show it has continued to grow. The future holds many opportunities for tours and recordings. William never stops looking for new places to string The Harp. One hope is to bring it back to his old stomping grounds and string it in The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. Besides offering an amazing performance in an acoustically perfect venue, it will also allow Close the chance to visit with friends and family he has in CT and NY. Currently he is in talks for a different NYC installation this spring in lower Manhattan. There has also been some discussion of a return to Lightning In A Bottle this summer.

http://williamandtheearthharp.com

by serena butler PH OTO G R A PH Y BY JAY B. W I LSO N www. jaybwilsonphoto.com

S

ometimes there are artists that are beyond just one craft. The artist’s hands become involved in so many things that you could swear up and down that they are completely bionic. Some may even call them a Human Machine. Beyond the arena of a battle bots stadium lays an artist of combat robot quality. He’s as full of creative talent as a battle bot is full of weapons; a true force to be reckoned with. His name is, SIRPAUL. Hailing from Port Jefferson, New York and currently residing in New York, New York one Paul Cucinello, better known as SIRPAUL, is making his way through all creative outlets; from producing and making his own music to hair and fashion. It’s only a matter of time until SIRPAUL unleashes his next weapon of creative magic.

Today, you can find SIRPAUL creating his own knee-dropping, make-you-want-to-dance music or partnering up with the super amazing DJ Alex Lauterstein in their duo Simulover.

With the energy SIRPAUL drops in everything he does it’s no surprise that he has a hot trail of television and web outlets tracking his every move. It just makes us wonder, with the amount of things he’s capable of . . . is he human? Or is he machine?

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 37

2012 marked the release of your fourth album entitled The Horse which is a shining example of what a dance pop album should be.

Thank you!

What is the most important quality in the development of a dance album?

I think it’s essential to think about both your musical influences and your life experience and let them speak through the music. There’s nothing worse than completely mind-numbing, generic dance music that’s really not saying anything at all lyrically. I have always listened to pop and dance music as well as folk music where the artists were revealing some really difficult aspects of their life through their music. The songs that resonate the most with me are the ones that tell a story.

So for me, it was only logical to tell my own story using elements of all of the genres of music that move me the most. There’s really no need to dumb anything down, right? Why not give the listener something to think about when they want to read the lyrics and make the music ridiculously addictive at the same time? That makes it really satisfying.

Where did the name The Horse come from?

The title came to me out of the blue really. This animal has symbolized so much to me throughout my life. I am drawn to horses because they are strong and beautiful, sensitive and highly intelligent. I started to think about my fear of horses and the parallel lines between learning how to ride a horse and falling in love...both require patience. When either love or a horse knocks you down you just have to get back up and try again. There’s nothing more freeing than riding a horse or falling in love. I also fell in love with Roberto Dutesco’s work…he had an exhibit entitled “The Wild Horses of Sable Island” and I was transfixed by the emotion he captured in these images. I then stumbled upon a piece of art that accompanied a poem called Mazeppa that showed a man tied to his horse naked. After I researched the story I found that it was a tale of trust, betrayal, redemption, salvation, perseverance and forgiveness. You should check it out.

For those who’ve seen any photo of you prior to publishing this interview, you have a very hot body. Seriously! The cover for The Horse!! What’s your daily regimen like in order to stay in shape? What’s your workout like? How about your diet? What does it take to be SIRPAUL? Why, thank you! I put myself on a very strict diet and exercise regimen. I was at the gym six days a week for about two hours a day and cut out gluten, dairy, soy, and red meat completely. I also did a juice cleanse three days before we shot the album cover. It was pretty hardcore. The changes in diet I’ve adopted as a permanent lifestyle adjustment. I don’t cheat on my diet at all. I eat small meals 5-6 times a day. I get to the gym as often as possible. It makes me feel great and having a healthy lifestyle, state of mind, and a strong body is essential in this business. I’m naturally a pretty mellow person so off camera I think I’m just a slightly watered down version of “SIRPAUL.” I try to turn everything way up when it’s time to be on.

Speaking of diet, for those who aren’t aware, you’re married to a chef. Is there anything that your hubby cooks that makes your mouth water? If so, is there a recipe he’s willing to share?

Everything he cooks is AMAZING. He’s definitely adjusted how he cooks to accommodate my eating preferences. He has a blog where he shares recipes and the beautiful photographs he takes of what he’s cooking. It’s evil. His Instagram is called @Pauls_Food_Porn for a reason. It’s feels so wrong to look at it!!

How do you feel you’ve evolved musically in this release from prior releases?

Well, I felt that with The Horse, I had finally made the album I’d been trying to make my entire life. I have had a long journey getting here. I was never formally trained in music. I taught myself how to play the piano as a child and other than that, I always tried my best to figure out how to use whatever electronics I could get my hands on to create music that sounded as close to what I wanted to hear or express as possible. I failed many times. I have made music that was waaaay too dark at times. I’ve also made some sonically very experimental songs that had really good concepts that, unfortunately, I was technically unable to realize without the help of someone better capable of mixing and mastering. When I finally got the right tools and grew up a bit I found that I was able to break free of the limitations 38 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

Confidence is everything.

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 39

40 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

that analog recording placed on me as an artist. Music & Me was my love letter to pop music. It was a confection, if you will. This album was more dark & raw. It was the first time I was able to really let myself write down what was on my mind while still doing what I feel I do best — write very catchy songs that stay in your head forever! I also think I’ve finally owned my singing voice and learned to accept it for what it is. I’ve come to the the realization that I have a unique, recognizable voice and sound and that counts for a lot in pop music.

Your latest single/EP, Glow, is quite a dance floor smasher. What can you tell us about the video? How did you get ready to glow when filming your video for the single?

“Glow” is a special song to me. I wrote it for my husband (Paul Salvatore Petersen). The video is a metaphor for almost dying, leaving your body and deciding that you’re not ready to give up yet and saving yourself. I think it’s beautiful. I put a lot of thought into conceptualizing my personal aesthetic for each music video I create and this one was a kind of nautical theme inspired by images from Pierre & Gilles and Jean Paul Gautlier ads. I gave myself a kewpie doll wave in the front.

Not the easiest style to create but since I do hair as well as music, I have some great products & tools at my disposal.

What does it mean when someone enters the room ready to glow?

It means that they’ve decided to let their outside reflect their inside and that really resonates with people. Confidence is everything.

You’ve had a rich musical background and upbringing with your family. How do you feel that your parents musical background impacted your current musical career? What was it like growing up in such a heavily musical household?

My family is so creative it’s kind of bizarre! We all make music, cook, do hair, or make art. My parents taught us how to create what our mind’s eye sees…and they made us feel that no matter what we attempted to do, they believed in us and we should never be afraid to fail. We grew up pretty poor and it was a bit crazy and chaotic in our home but our home was always full of unconditional love and lots of laughs. We never felt that we were lacking in any material things…we had each other.

You recently contributed the title track to the motion picture soundtrack for Going Down in La-La Land, based on the novel by Andy Zeffer. How did you get involved in the soundtrack to the film? Did you see the movie beforehand or read the novel when penning the song?

I didn’t write that song. “Going Down in La-La Land” was the first song I’d ever recorded that I hadn’t written! It was written by Carly and Hoyt Emrick of the group Candy Apple Blue. When they originally submitted their version of the song (featuring vocalist Trym Killi) to Casper Andreas, he felt it was a bit too somber for the feel of the movie. They asked me to remix it and turn it into an electropop track. After submitting the remixed version, Casper asked me to re-record it with my vocals. I had 10 days to re-record the song and shoot a video in order for it be included in the project.

I had never read the book or seen the film and the footage from the film that was provided for us to edit into the video was delivered without any sound so I went into this completely blind. I liked the film a lot and it was overall a great experience! I owe a lot of gratitude to Carly, Hoyt and Casper for giving me such a great opportunity.

In 2008, your single “Do U” was chosen to be the theme song for the New Now Next Awards. What was your initial reaction to the exposure for the song? How did the popularity of that single affect your current career?

It was incredible! “Do U” was on all of the commercials leading up to the show.

When I went to the taping of NewNowNext Awards it played in between every segment. That song really put me on the map and the video pushed a lot of buttons...

For your last album, Music and Me, you came up with a “not equal” symbol on the cover that clearly speaks volumes. Can you tell us a little about how the idea to use that symbol came about? What does it mean to you? Can you also tell us about those AMAZING not equal pants you wore to the New Now Next awards in 2010?

The “Not Equal” concept was something my best friend, creative director/fashion designer Anthony Passarelli & I came up with together. I wanted to adopt a ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 41

42 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

I honestly really don’t give a shit if people are shocked or offended by the images I produce.

I am a normal, healthy, sexual human being and I don’t find anything dirty or taboo about sexuality.

symbol that really was a sign of the times and Marriage Equality is the GLBTQA community’s Civil Rights Movement. I felt that if I had the opportunity to walk the red carpet and be on television I wanted to make a point of clearly stating the obvious- In 2013, we are still NOT equal. Anthony designed and custom made those pants. I live for them. He actually made an entire collection using the print for me to wear while doing all of the promo for Music & Me. Now that’s a good friend!

Aside from your music, you have a very artistic spoken word video entitled “Provocateur.” What does the spoken poetry of “Provocateur” mean to you?

What made you decide to share it in video form?

I’ve always made people feel a little uncomfortable. I’m unapologetic for being who I am. I’m the guy that people tell their dirty secrets to. I’ve always liked to push buttons. “Provocateur” is about what it’s like to be on both sides of the exhibitionist/ voyeur dynamic. I wrote it specifically as a collaboration between Stavros Agapiou who is a brilliant friend of mine and an extremely talented indie artist. We wanted to work on something other than just a traditional music video and that was what we came up with. I am really proud of that piece.

Is the art of poetry something you might want to consider releasing more of?

Possibly later on in my life. For now, if you read my lyrics, I think the poetry is all there.

You’ve hit the production/collaboration route with other artists, most recently with the Winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 3, Raja, for the track “Sublime.”

Can you tell us more about how “Sublime” came together?

“Sublime” was an incredible example of happenstance. Raja and I met through twitter after being at the NewNowNext Awards and both getting caught on camera reacting to Perez Hilton’s shirtless getup. I later bumped into Raja at a RPDR event and she asked me to write and produce her next single. 24 hours later I had written, demo’d and sent it to her. It was really cool!

What is the work environment like when you’re producing for other artists?

Do you have any planned collabs that you could spill to us?

We usually keep it really casual and either work at my apartment or in the studio. As a producer, you need to reflect the other artist’s energy in the songs you create for them. I try to put myself in their position and imagine I’m them writing the song. It’s a little bit Invasion of the Body Snatchers. LOL Right now I’m working with a new artist named Chantaé Vetrice. She’s gonna be huge.

You are also involved in an electro pop side project called Simulover with DJ/ producer extraordinaire Alex Lauterstein. How do you feel the music or vibe of Simulover differentiates from your own music production?

Alex is one of my best friends in the entire world. He was the first DJ to ever play my song. We’ve always wanted to work on something together and fuse Alex’s sophisticated aural aesthetic with my electropop sensibilities. That album was one of the most freeing experiences of my life. Alex forced me to think outside the box and I coaxed him to create a bit more structure…we found a happy middle ground with Simulover.

You’ve worked with some very distinct fashion and beauty companies using your music for campaigns such as Giorgio Armani & Oribe. How did you become involved with such notable product lines? Did you ever envision your music transcending into the fashion world?

Well it certainly was a dream of mine and I’m honestly not quite sure I could trace exactly how my music got into their hands! I love fashion and beauty and I have a lot of friends who work in both industries so I guess it was kind of inevitable.

You have another profession: Hair! You’ve done a few features for various magazines/websites including Oprah and WebMD. What is the number one problem you see with current hairstyles on celebrities? What is your best tip for great fresh looking hair?

Change is important when it comes to your look. I love when people like Anne Hathaway or Miley Cyrus make drastic changes to their cut or color. It inspires people to play with their look and not get stuck in a rut. I am constantly changing my hair. It’s really cathartic for me. My best tip for great, fresh looking hair is to ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 43

I think it’s easier to process blatant ignorance than it is to try to blow away the smoke from all of the guns these idiots buy at Walmart to ‘protect themselves.’

invest in high quality products and to condition your hair more often than you shampoo it. I love Oribe, Kerastase and Shu Uemura hair care products because they deliver the results I need both on and off camera. They are a bit pricey, but they last a lot longer because they are concentrated and contain much higher-grade ingredients than drug store brands.

You said that you’re not afraid of controversy, so let’s get into a topic that many people fear. Politics. It’s widely known that you were clearly supporting president Obama in this last election. What would you like to see in the next four years come out of the reelection of Barack Obama? Do you think your vision will actually occur?

I would like to see this country focus on making progress as a whole. I would like for people to be a little more honest about their concerns and just come out and say “I’m racist” or “I hate gay people” instead of saying that “Obama isn’t doing a good job” or “I just believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.” I think it’s easier to process blatant ignorance than it is to try to blow away the smoke from all of the guns these idiots buy at Walmart to “protect themselves.” This country has a lot of work to do. Obama is more than likely doing more in one day than any single person who complains about him does in a lifetime.

You’re not afraid to cross any boundaries when it comes to expressing yourself in what some may call a NSFW way. When making videos like “Body Connection,” what is the dynamic like in creating something so sensual?

What lines are you willing to cross when it comes to expressing yourself?

I honestly really don’t give a shit if people are shocked or offended by the images I produce. I am a normal, healthy, sexual human being and I don’t find anything dirty or taboo about sexuality. It’s natural and if you choose not to express it, fine, but I am here to provoke thought, arouse, or inspire you. If I offend you, you can cover your eyes, but I will catch you peeking! I think it’s important for the GLBTQA community to have someone out there representing us that isn’t a clown that’s been castrated in order to “asexually” entertain the rest of the world. I want the next generation to know that they don’t have to hide their sexuality in a closet.

Whatever you need to do to be your authentic self is what you should focus on.

For the “Body Connection” video, I had to force myself to get into a very specific headspace. The song is about seduction and is about me orchestrating an explicit fantasy/scenario. The director, Andreas Anastasis, is always very clear with is vision and has a talent for igniting that fire in you so everyone he works with just wants to bring it. The cast was perfect in my opinion, something for everyone. We wanted to have a lot of women in the video because we both feel that sexuality is a bit more fluid than people like to think. The idea of a pile of beautiful people crawling all over me: um yeah I definitely enjoyed the concept. Ha ha ha! At the same time, I know it’s just acting. I had to bring my character to life and he is a man who wants to be serviced by a variety of beautiful people. I believe that is everyone’s secret fantasy and I am more than happy to bring that fantasy to life for your viewing pleasure.

Anything in the works for 2013?

There will definitely be more new music and videos from myself and Simulover in 2013! I’m going to be touring all year and I’m collaborating with some very talented producers. I also have s single coming out with Armand Deluxe that I’m featured on called “Touch Me.” What is SIRPAUL’s definition of the meaning of life?

“At some point in life you will be asked to stand up for what you believe in. You will be asked to make a choice: Lie or tell the truth…Be a coward or be a hero, it’s up to you...but remember, in the end you have to answer to yourself. You decide your own fate. Life is full of choices...settle for mediocrity or become a star.”

— SIRPAUL

www.sirpaul.com ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 45

46 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

Their Time is Now by paula frank photographs by O laf H eine www.olafheine .com

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 47

I

think it is safe to say that music makes up a good portion of the blood that runs through the veins of Youthkills. James Taylor and Andy Taylor Jr. (sons of Roger and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran fame) come by it honestly! But there is no resting on laurels for these two hardworking musicians. From running night clubs to creating remixes to now fronting their own band, Youthkills lives and breathes music and it shows in the work that they do. Powerful sounds and inspiring lyrics bring Youthkills to the forefront of what pop music should be and has listeners begging for more. With their debut album coming out later this year, their time is definitely now.

You two have literally grown up together.

How has this affected the dynamic of how you work together making music?

When you’ve known each other so long the creative process becomes quite easy.

We know each other’s strengths and can work in the studio very efficiently.

dig out the old stuff it’s pretty funny. I’d love to show you, but I will take them to my grave.

You are currently working on your debut album. Any hints on what we can expect from it?

Big Guitars, big melody, analog synths, live strings, atmosphere, distortion and Do you ever get into power struggles loads of love put into the record. with each other or are you more of a cohesive unit?

You’ve released the first track, “Time is I think a bit of healthy competition is a Now” along with a video. How did you great thing, but never the less we are a very come up with the concept of the kids and skateboarding? tight unit in everything we do.

The idea for the kids was from our friend What is the meaning behind the name and director of the video, Emma Swinton.

Youthkills?

She saw Youthkills as a metaphor for “misYouthkills was actually the name we lead youth” and the video stemmed from came up with for our side-project while we that. The skateboarding is just something were sitting in the pub back in 2008. We we’re into and serves as an homage to started a club night under that name. We our youth. were young and just thought it sounded great, It’s interesting how when you think What do you enjoy most about the video about it, it reflects society. At the time we making process? weren’t thinking anything like that.

Seeing the meaning behind the lyrics being interpreted by the director and put How have your sound and your skills into a visual aspect by the video is a pretty developed over the years as you have wonderful thing. changed and grown?

Between the two of us, we played about How many skateboards do each of you 90% of the instruments you will hear on the own and who’s had the worst wipeout? record including the drums, bass, guitar, We own a few boards each. Andy had piano, and synths. a nasty fall prior to the video and broke his It’s been an amazing experience and arm. Luckily the video wasn’t affected! when you listen to the album what you will hear is totally us.

One of the standout themes in the lyrics for “Time is Now” is doing things your own What is the most embarrassing musical way and not waiting around for something moment from your past that ended up on to happen. How important is it to you to do the cutting room floor? things your own way as a band?

Over the past few years we have worked It’s very important. We are lucky enough with plenty of different producers and ex- to work with people who really let us be free plored a number of musical paths. When you with our creativity in every aspect. We are 48 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

heavily involved with every moment of the album from engineering, producing, mixing, mastering, and of course writing and singing.

Do you ever feel that you’ve missed out on anything by tackling your music career more independently?

I think the way we have done things has been very organic so far. We have had the time to put a lot of love into every part of everything we do. Sure, it may of taken a little longer, but it is 100% us. It’s exactly how we want this to be and that’s a wonderful thing.

Was this song more of a message to your listeners or to yourselves?

The song reflected and captured how we Will you be releasing remixes for any of both felt at the time, but also delivers a positive your own work once you are finished with the album? message to the listeners and ourselves.

We have an EP in the works, but we’re You guys have done several remixes. What keeping that quiet for now. is it that you like about doing remixes?

We like creating something we would love It’s hard to grab people’s attention and keep to hear in a club or bar. We used to run a club it these days. How do you guys manage it? night in east London so I guess that’s where We just blindly follow our intuition and we get our experience. make music we love. The attention comes as a bonus I guess!

What first draws you to a song that makes you want to remix it?

What is your favorite club to party at and The songwriting is what grabs our atten- will they be playing your music some day? tion. If it’s a good song then remixing is a DC10, The Watergate, and The Berghain. smooth, enjoyable process.

(Hopefully one day!)

Is Elvis really dead?

No, we had lunch with him yesterday.

What’s the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you?

Years ago, Paul Weller told us to “write some better songs.”

www.youthkills.com ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 49

the expression of the mind

by The A rtist D

From the underground world of Art Brut comes Cristabel Christo. Christo takes unconventional to a whole new level as her art depicts a seemingly simplistic surface, but goes further to project images both disturbing and thought-provoking.

Taking her own experiences and emotions from her past and putting them to canvas and other mediums, Christo brings these surreal dramas to life.

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 51

52 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

Described as an outsider of art, you appear to enjoy staying on the outside or the underground. Why is that, and what’s so scary about “official culture,” that which some may call the normal mainstream?

It’s true that I operate outside the “art world” mainstream. This isn’t something I particularly enjoy. Ideally, I’d like to be having gallery openings, be meeting new buyers and gaining more exposure in magazine interviews such as this one. It does me no favors to be so reticent about getting involved in these areas. However, it does allow for all my energy to be directed solely to creating art. I have no interest in the commercial and social side of things. Also, I’ve had lots of problems in the past with people wanting to get too close to me, rather than them focusing on what’s most important, namely the art itself. This has been a real problem. I’ve discovered that by keeping my personal life firmly in the background, it places all the attention on my work. So you see, my fear of embracing “official culture” is a very real one. My ancestral history within France compounds the issue. There are all sorts of rumors flying around on the internet about my family and it has led to

some people wanting to contact me for often the only respite from the turmoil came from drawing and painting. Putting your more information. I won’t elaborate. thoughts down on paper, whether in writYour art includes beautiful visions of the ing, or in my case through painting, allows darker side, oddities and pictures of ex- a person to look objectively at what’s haptreme mental states; what is your fasci- pening in their life. My father used to beat me with a stick. One day I just left the house nation with these subjects?

All my work, without exception, is an at- with nothing but a rucksack of belongings. tempt to give visual imagery to my thoughts I’ve had no contact with my parents since.

Leaving my parents coincided with me and fears. Everyone has these darker leaving my boyfriend. I’d just discovered he thoughts and everyone at some stage contemplates subjects such as mortality, death was being unfaithful. Things had come to a and abuse. However, not everyone choos- head. Slowly, silently, I was combining my es to put paint to paper in an attempt to ex- death with my living. I realized I had to get press these thoughts visually. Although my hold of myself. Compose myself. He was work focuses on unconventional images and mean, selfish, irresponsible, a liar, careless, extreme mental states, I can fully appreciate self-absorbed and lazy. I didn’t like him but I felt I couldn’t cope without him. It all fell to a well painted still-life of a bowl of fruit. pieces. Looking at videos of us, I saw his lyPortraying some mental extremes and ing eyes and my trusting eyes. I wondered unconventional ideas in your art, do you what I’d done wrong and what I could do to find this to be mirrored in your day to make him want me more than her. Bulimia was looming again. Things were slipping day life?

Fortunately, my day-to-day life is now out of my control. I was physically sick and quite stable. But this hasn’t always been mentally sick. My parents pretended I was the case. I went through a series of very fine. They preferred me to hide my probunhealthy relationships, the one with my lems. My heart felt very sad. The disorder parents being the most destructive of them came back. It consisted of mental rituals all. My emotions were tested to the limit and and unwanted thoughts. I began counting ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 53

54 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 55

56 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

by Paula frank

58 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

things over and over. It was tedious and frustrating but I couldn’t stop it. Everything had to fit into groups of four. If it didn’t, I’d get incredibly anxious. Something had gone from me.

I realized it was my happiness. I threw myself into painting. It was, and still is, my only escape.

Being a visual artist myself, I started out creating normal pieces but being drawn to the oddities in my own mind. At what age did you begin putting together “strange” visions and how did the people around you react to your creations?

I started young. My parents were never really there for me. I always felt like I was an unwelcome distraction to them. They did nothing to reassure me. Art became my way of retreating from their world.

Earlier I described your art as “beautiful”, while surely some of the brainwashed masses would find it grotesque. What say you to people repelled by your work?

Art, like music, is very subjective. I can fully understand people being repelled by my work. In fact, it’s quite refreshing hearing someone say that they don’t like my work.

I value their honesty. I think all artists like to provoke some kind of reaction, whether good or bad. I certainly prefer someone’s repulsion to their indifference.

Existing in Paris, France would have the average individual assuming your Art Brut is readily accepted; would you say that is true or false? Is Paris as open to all of this as we once assumed?

I’m not sure Art Brut is readily accepted anywhere. Most people seem to have only a passing interest in art in general, and they tend to judge artworks almost solely on their technical proficiency. Having good technical ability has never been a requirement of an outsider artist.

You definitely are multi-media with many of your pieces. What is your favorite medium to use?

I don’t consider the medium to be of great importance. It’s something of a tradition with outsider artists to use whatever is at hand and affordable. I tend to work mostly in acrylics because they’re very versatile. You can thin them down with water and apply like watercolors or use them straight from the tube like oils. I also sometimes turn to pastels but find these very messy.

You can see more of Cristabel Christo’s work here: http://speedaway.wix.com/cristabelchristo# ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 59

60 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

by K athy Creighton photographs by bruno o’hara www. brunoohara .com

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 61

62 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

Lucent Dossier - “a collection of glowing light”. But what is the source of that light? People. Kind, exciting, genuine, focused, talented, spiritual, loving people. They come in all shapes and sizes, from petite and slender, short and pudgy to buff and muscular. They are silly and serious, delicate and dorky. They are breathtakingly beautiful and comfortably awkward. They are fresh and unique, generous and charitable in a world of conformity and entitlement. They are a magical people who want to fill your senses, open your mind, take you somewhere new and challenge you to become who you truly are, even if just for a minute. They want you to come out and play.

A

ll these people then come together, combine their light, and create art on every level imaginable.

The public knows them as an electronic-music-producing cirque troupe presenting installments of performance art. Lucent Dossier experiences are filled with aerial acrobats, dancers, singers, musicians, fire spinners, stilt walkers and vaudeville-inspired comedy vignettes. However, the group is one of the best examples of the kinds of arts mash-ups that are happening right now. Behind the scenes, the members of Lucent Dossier write the concepts and the scripts, compose music, design and fabricate costumes, and construct set pieces and performance apparatus. Lucent Dossier are make-up artists, choreographers, stage builders, and truck drivers (Seriously? You try driving in L.A. — it is an art). The same people who take us on flights of surreal fantasy by night then show up at the troupe’s warehouse in jeans and t-shirts, don welder’s masks and heavy leather gloves by day.

Lucent Dossier made its first public appearance New Year’s Eve, 2004 at the Park Plaza Hotel in L.A. Founded by Dream Rockwell, the troupe is the product of a conversation she’d had with a relative stranger at Burning Man (who we now know is Hollywood set designer Mario Diaz). He questioned her regarding the direction of her life. Her response to his query about which way she was headed was to run down her resume: dancer, actress, costume maker, running a poetry slam in New York City called Lunatic Fringe, a musician, and a manager. Instead of being impressed with her pedigree, the man responded, “If you get to L.A. and say that, people are going to laugh at you. You need a point on your arrow and you don’t have one. When you figure out what that is, come find me and we’ll talk.” This conversation happened on the first day of the festival and Dream was just planning on having a good time; instead she was hounded by the words “People will laugh at you”. It made her sit down and really contemplate what the point on her arrow was. Within an hour she envisioned a festival environment, with domes for people to ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 63

The phrase “the rules are: there are no rules� applies and the result is welders who dance, singers who paint, acrobats who design clothing and potters who act. There is collaboration and trust.

64 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

gather in, interactive experiences, classes on conscious living, an incredible show that required the audience to interact, and late-night music to really dance to. It was a modern carnival based on an electronic theme. Part of her vision became the Lightning In A Bottle Festival. Today Lucent Dossier and The Do LaB (co-founded by Rockwell), who run LIB, are still very close partners both in art and in charities.

Besides all of the attributes Dream Rockwell listed off to the robed wiseman at Burning Man, she brings with her a true gypsy heart. Born about three hours from Toronto, she traveled to New York City to go to school and stayed long enough to gain practical experience in the arts and entertainment industry. When the opportunity was presented, after signing with 3 Arts Entertainment, to pack up everything and move across the country, she took it without much of a second thought. Her wanderlust and creative soul are key ingredients for her and the troupe’s success. It is her visions that are the core of each Lucent experience. Dream remembers the very first world she presented to the group: in the Victorian era, a group of survivors from a shipwreck land on an “uncivilized” island. When they are found a year later they have mixed their culture with the indigenous people, so the feeling and costuming was a combination of Rococo period high society with a wild freespirit native vibe that included bones, feathers and tribal body makeup. Today, even after many installments Dream still has many more ideas. She’s feeling the next step will be something extraterrestrial with interactive holographic projections.

Between Burning Man and The Do LaB’s Lightning In A Bottle, Lucent found its footing and its niches. In L.A. it found the people, the warehouse they call home and other spaces where they were invited to perform. Circus art became very highly developed in the City of Angels, thus providing a growing pool of talent to choose from. The next big moment came when Lucent Dossier became “regulars” at the Coachella music festival. The troupe is allotted a full acre of space at the event. There they perform for tens of thousands of people.

This was a first not only for Coachella but for other music festivals to which Lucent has now been added. As more people have experienced Lucent Dossier, they have been invited to perform at private events for the wealthy and influential. When asked how Lucent Dossier has landed some of its large commercial gigs, Dream said “You know...I don’t know. I should probably ask people how they heard about us but I get so focused on how to make their performance special for them that I don’t think to do it at that moment.”

However the word spread really doesn’t matter, only that people do talk and that talking connected Lucent Dossier with an up-and-coming band from Las Vegas in 2006, Panic! at the Disco. When the cirque provided the quartet with a group of wild and skilled performers and a unique look and feel for their first video “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”, the band was still in its infant stages. They hit the road on a tour with the band that opened in a small club with a capacity of about 500 people; when the video won MTV’s “Video of the Year,” things changed quickly. By the time the tour ended, P!aTD played 2 sold-out nights at Madison Square Gardens. It was the earlier P!aTD tour, when openers OK Go left and the Dresden Dolls were added, that Lucent Dossier found more artistic soulmates in Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione. Anyone with even the vaguest knowledge of “AFP” (Amanda Fucking Palmer) can see that there was little to no stretch to that connection. LD would later send a contingent to do a European tour with the Boston punk-burlesque duet.

This band of misfit, gypsy geniuses have gone on to book appearances at several televised awards, including performISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 65

66 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

ing all throughout the 2011 Scream Awards. They even had an episode of Bravo’s “Top Chef-Just Desserts” dedicated to them. Then came another huge step: Dream would find herself back in Manhattan. This time she came with dancer Linda Borini and other senior/founding members of Lucent Dossier.

They had been hired as artists-in-residence at the newly restored and renovated Liberty Theater in the heart of Times Square. The plan was to create a completely east coast cast, their first satellite troupe. It would turn out to be one of the biggest challenges they would face.

Sitting down with Linda, a member of Lucent since 2006, at a sandwich shop on Columbus Circle, the saga of the “Lucent Encounter” unfolded. The project revealed the two distinct personalities of the California and the New York metro area arts scenes. At the time of the interview Borini was still working and training the New York troupe as well as performing, doing creative production, costuming, additional casting, photography, and show flow.

The laid-back attitude of California has been the source of not only a freer expression of art but also of exploration. The phrase “the rules are: there are no rules” applies and the result is welders who dance, singers who paint, acrobats who design clothing and potters who act. There is collaboration and trust.

Due to a lower cost of living, artists can afford to take free gigs to gain experience. In the case of performers, this results in more stage time where they can let loose and find their groove.

Linda and Dream both feel that the strong influence of Burning Man in California is some of the fuel for this engine too.

Borini and Rockwell came to Manhattan with knowledge and expectations based on that knowledge. Dream had studied there, worked there. Linda is a professional dancer. At the age of 12 her biggest aspiration was to dance on Broadway.

She knew that New York City was the home to the American Ballet Theater and Fosse-inspired dance companies. What ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 67

they would discover were the effects of economics and New York’s pride in being the old school mecca of the arts on artists and their community. To survive and ultimately succeed in the Big Apple, one must claim a niche and then focus on being the best they can be in that niche. Without being able to just drop in on a free or very reasonably priced class or jump in on a performance in the last minute; dancers, actors, musicians and acrobats become technically very good in their speciality. It was that technical superiority that they brought to their auditions for Lucent Dossier. What many of them didn’t bring was the spontaneity and multiple disciplines needed to take your place in a Lucent Dossier show. The SoCal team met the challenge with trust, patience, a sense of humor and determination. Today the satellite troupe has been established. At the time of our meeting, all but 4 or 5 members of the L.A. team had gone back to the west coast.

The New York project has been very special to Lucent Dossier in that they knew they were bringing something that was totally new. It was something that people in the New York metro area would learn they had been hungry for for quite awhile; they just didn’t realize it until they experienced it. The Lucent Encounter is one of the steps that will move the east coast forward. Admittedly, there was concern over how they’d be received, but that was quickly erased when the show sold out not only opening night but every Saturday after to the point that Time Square Management Group had to shut down The Liberty Theater for expansion. The troupe was put on hiatus by the end of November; it was bittersweet and the troupe made a sad but triumphant return to Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, back on the west coast, the original troupe was putting the final polish on their New Year’s performances at Bagatelle in Las Vegas and fulfilling another one of Dream’s wishes. For a long time she had wanted to release all the original music they had created and recorded. Member Alta Gadret finally spearheaded the project and the EP “GATEWAY” was released December 21, 2012. Rockwell hopes to continue this project with more recordings in the future.

Lucent Dossier is an uber-talented, edgy bunch of performers — but they are also caring and spiritual people too. Many of them cut their charitable teeth with DoArt, the organization created by The Do LaB that supports arts in schools. Lucent Dossier has added their own foundation “Cuddle The World” to their mix of creations. Currently they are promoting their Private Party III fundraiser that sold out almost immediately the day the tickets went on sale. This charity is providing needed arts and education materials, daily staples like diapers and bottles along with teddy bears and inspirational toys to orphanages around the world. Dream has been spending time at an orphanage in Guyana recently and hopes someday to create a large farm for orphans where artists can come and teach their crafts to the kids, give cooking lessons while the children learn compassion, self-reliance and discipline raising crops and animals.

There are only more great things to come from Lucent Dossier. For now, the people who are not Lucent need to get out and experience the ones who are. Let yourself be taken away on a magical ride to a place where you are encouraged to let go and just be yourself. A Lucent experience is one where you can discover just how eclectic, eccentric or just plain weird you really are, embrace it and become it. The greatest thing we can do globally is claim the freedom we have always had to be unique, and in doing so find pure joy. So put on your best hat, your funkiest pair of shoes and your own special attitude and come out and play with Lucent Dossier. www.lucentdossier.com ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 69

Soraya Shah Woman Weaving Old world into the Modern Day

by Charlie demos

70 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 71

I

first met her in 2010, on a small, makeshift stage in the basement of a bar on the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. It was one a.m. and I was sitting through yet another burlesque show, haphazardly produced by a then friend of mine. The night quickly exploded out of banal breast reveals and two-bit tassel twirls into a savagely unique performance art piece as “Divina Gransparkle” emerged from behind the velvet curtain. Her bedazzling looks, playful confidence, and creative power were spellbinding. I was an instant fan, infected with excitement, inspiration and awe. We went on to work together on my first short film, of which she was the centerpiece and muse.

“Thou Shalt Not Hate in Your Heart” opens with a fantastical go-go number in which Divina Gransparkle conjures striking similarities to the Warhol icon, Ms. Geri Miller.

The reviews from this piece were unanimous: everyone loved Divina Gransparkle.

She has an undeniably electric presence; creativity personified. Her alter ego, Ms. Soraya Shah, is no different. There is just something about this woman.

I had both the honor and pleasure of being invited to Studio 4, a textile space in the Flatiron district of New York City, to meet with Ms. Shah. I came to the studio with excitement and an open mind to learn about textiles, an artistic medium I have very little knowledge of. My experience was an incredibly fascinating, eye-opening look into the modern practice of one of the most ancient of art forms.

Soraya Shah fell in love with the art of weaving whilst studying at Savannah College of Art and Design, after moving to the United States from Brazil at age nineteen.

She recalls with nostalgia and passion her intuitive magnetism to weaving, saying, “It just felt so natural. It felt like home.” To watch Ms. Shah work her custom-made loom is a rare and fascinating experience.

Yarn is measured, then manually wound through individual spindles, of which there are thousands. Creating interaction between the warp (threads) and weft (linen), she will utilize her own body weight, conducting a delicate balance of pressure on the loom with a masterful, steady hand. This process, which requires full attention and participation, will bond the two materials together, creating the intricate patterns on the cloth. Two polarized materials meet in symbiotic fragility in an “over and under” meditation, to create something that is entirely unique, intricate and sustainable. Finding the process behind her work to be deeply spiritual and cathartic, Ms. Shah does not weave when angry or upset so as to not compromise or influence the energy of the piece. Once a project has begun, She must

72 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 73

see it through to fruition, as another set of hands would drastically alter the design, energy, and overall look of the piece.

Drawing inspiration from South America, particularly traditions of the Andes region, she cites Ecuador and Columbia as two countries which had the most profound influence on her aesthetic. While in Ecuador, Ms. Shah saw textiles as “drawings on fabrics”; multi-dimensional, self-contained worlds of art. She was also very taken with the country side of Holland, finding a massive well of creative vision in its nature, architecture, and animal life. Inspirations are well represented in her studio: literature, music, film, and nature, to name a few.

Dedicating many of her fabric designs after her muses, there are swatches of fabrics summoning iconoclasts such as “Orbinson” and “Murakami”.

What is the difference between a simple pattern and a incredibly complex and unique “Shah design”? The color palette. This is her greatest superpower within her artistic medium of choice. Ms. Shah will never use just one type of yarn in any color scheme.

For example, if a client were to request a cream-colored design, she will utilize four to five different types of cream yarn to spin a multidimensional, sophisticated cream creation. The end result is one-of-a-kind; the feel, look and durability of which is undeniably superior to anything mass produced.

Diamonds are a dime a dozen but Ms. Shah works her magic to augment and alchemize the ordinary. Each “Shah design” is custommade with a focus on upholstery, although carpets have been made to order. With confidence and gusto, she professes that literally anything may be created to satiate the clients’ desires. Working predominantly with cotton and linen, she has woven a myriad of different materials, including but not limited to leather, silk, and metal. Silk, being her favorite, invokes a luxurious elegance and

decadence that, even when used in subtlety, resurrects a mesmerizing vibe of classical antiquity. Additionally, she has a base palette of earth tones as a springboard to further inspiration. Ms. Shah encourages her clients to let their imaginations run wild while she happily sprints alongside. Her work is featured worldwide, from the posh hotels of the Soho district of New York City to the home of Ben Stiller in Hawaii.

Ms. Shah is an avid supporter of the weaving renaissance, which is currently happening the world over, particularly here in the United States. She is adamantly opposed to outsourcing projects, taking great pleasure in educating and working with people in her own community. The majority of the weaving that takes place in the modern day is done by computerized looms of gargantuan stature in iron and cement factories that stretch miles long. The only interaction a human being may have to the process is to oversee the mega-computer as a monitor. The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), made effective in 1995, imposed the basic principles of the WTO on the textiles trade with a mandatory implementation of 10 years, thus giving equal treatment and fair trade to many countries with textile industries. As of January 1, 2005, nearly all textiles productions worldwide have gone to China, thereby greatly limiting opportunities for production within the United States or anywhere else.

I add these bit of international law to underline just how rare and special the work of Soraya Shah is--meticulous, thoughtful, passionate and creative with a grassroots mindset.

Soraya Shah is weaving the old world with the modern day, creating a delicate balance of tradition and technology that is so very important to our history, anthropology and day-to-day lives as human beings on this earth.

Soraya Shah’s designs are sold exclusively through Studio 4 on a made-to-order basis.

To learn about Studio 4, please visit their website: http://www.studiofournyc.com 74 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 75

Pushing the envelope

BY TH E A RTI ST d

Much like Marylyn Manson and other so called shocking acts, Needle Factory pushes an image and a sound to the forefront that makes people think. Likewise, neither Freddy nor Johna hold back their opinions when it comes to the mindless culture we’re currently stuck in. They’re ready to watch the world burn so let them eat cake!

Needle Factory is a two-part effort between gender bending noise junkies Freddy Morgendorffer and Johna Curtis. While you have been making beautiful music together for a while, you have just recently released your first album, Goetia. What took so long to grace us with this fantastic record?

Well, even though we have known each other for a long time, Needle Factory as a band has only existed since November 2011. We released an EP in summer of last year then followed it with the album last October. So, in 14 months or so we managed to put quite a lot out.

How did Needle Factory form and what was the main ambition of the group? What did you want to accomplish with your music?

I think we talked a lot online and also because it’s hard to find people with the same outlook. We just got together and messed about until we felt confident enough to do shows. As far as ambition goes, I’d just like to be able to do this full time and not have to work around other jobs which are just a means to an end. I think it is healthy for a musician to be totally delusional, so yes, we want to play at Buckingham Palace just like Elton John.

Needle Factory is pure industrial noise electronic and this excites the crowded audiences. For those who don’t understand, what is the connection and the release people tap into when listening to this kind of music?

The music did start out like that, yes. I think the reason for that has more to do with frustration with the mundane or mediocre. You must have an opinion on something like that. Whether you love or hate it, no one is going to say ‘well its ok, needs to be a bit more dance-floor.’ It defies description or critical assessment. This is all very good, but it’s also a bit of dead end creativity. You have to mold something out of the chaos eventually.

Last time I checked, Goetia referred to the invocation of angels or demons. What does Goetia mean when it comes to your album? I can see how Needle Factory could be perceived as both demons and angels.

Goetia is something l remember reading about when l was going down the rabbit hole of Aleister Crowley’s writing. It’s all about the invocation of demons based on ancient Egyptian texts. I find the cult of

Crowley more interesting than anything he actually wrote because, if nothing else, he was a good self-publicist and artist. He knew that people always wanted to walk through the door marked ‘danger.’ You really have to believe in the esoteric to be effected by it so Goetia represents a need to believe in something. Also, l wanted a title you had to think about the meaning of, a bit like finding a code to get into the room.

The band is known for getting caked, but what is your favorite kind of cake?

Illegal cake. Outlaw cake or cake with no moral code.

The world has been swept into the Facebook culture, therefore the Sheeple have been released into a realm they never should have been allowed. From where I stand this has only made brainwashed stupidity more prevalent. Is the world doomed to idiocy?

Do you think we’ll ever recover?

What Facebook has done is introduce social networking to everyone with a smart phone. When l started out on the net around 1996, it was a real alternative culture so the people on forums etc were there because they had something in common. It was very comforting to talk rubbish with someone you like simply because they owned the same albums or they had the same interest in ball gags. What’s happening now is this massive influx of ‘noobs’ who don’t know how to behave online, are the majority, and can report something they find ‘offensive.’

It feels like they are walking into my world and setting the rules. It’s a bit like when your favorite band that you saw in a tiny bar suddenly becomes massive and all these idiots are into them. It takes all the meaning out of it for you and you retreat into nostalgia. Facebook’s power is its ability to pull things together from all other sites into one newsfeed.

However, that is becoming a drone of meaningless background noise.

I’m positive about the future though because every generation will find something new of its own to express itself as they do with music.

That being said, how will Needle Factory make the world a better place for people like me who need more people and noise like the two of you?

Make the world a better place? Ha. We just want to watch the world burn.

www.needlefactory.net ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 79

Photograph by VANILLA CHILD

BY TH E A RTI ST d

The man with the perfect beats bring us authentic hiphop from the underground. Toneazy is followed by thousands on Twitter and remains on top of the Reverbnation charts. It’s not easy being Toneazy, but he does it anyway and is relentless in sharing his sickeningly delicious rhymes! I sat down with him to discuss the beat, the brain and hip hop behavior.

80 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

Photograph by Jacqueline Wilson

I’ve known you since you were a skater kid in tight purple jeans before you were laying down sick lyrics. Where did Toneazy come from and how did it become so natural for you to write (lyrically) the way you do?

Toneazy has been around forever. Hip-hop has always been a passion of mine, but it really hit me to try and take it serious after my friend and I had a two-man band. He would play guitar and I would freestyle over what he was playing. My lyrics come so naturally to me because I absolutely love writing and telling stories, so I was always writing. I used to get into trouble a lot in school for that. I still skate all the time as well.

You have released several mixtapes and in 2013 we will see an album with your own beats. Many artists have gravitated to the creation of mixtapes.

What is your interest in it and why do mixtapes?

I like doing mixtapes because it gives people a chance to listen and download my music for free. That way they know what they’re going to be buying once the album drops.

Being a young white hip-hop artist has become normal these days, as we’ve come a long way from Eminem. You find yourself unique and hate to be typecast (being compared to others). Tell us what makes your sound and style unique to Toneazy?

Well, first of all, I write my own lyrics, which a lot of these dudes don’t do. They either hire someone to write for them or they say they are going off the top (completely freestyle). I’m able to switch my flow up to whatever the beat is. A lot of people stick to what they are comfortable with. As for me, I take chances and let my creativity take over.

While you are expanding your sound beyond hip-hop, it is currently what you are known for. Even though the culture has come far in accepting this genre, there are still a lot of people who stereotype hip-hop as senseless rap with no meaning. What would you say to defend the authenticity of this type of expression?

The thing that fucks the whole culture up is the mainstream hip-hop. There are still really lyrically talented hip-hop artists who talk about more than just getting money, bitches, smoking, and drinking. You can’t confuse the mainstream with the underground because they’re so different.

Several of your songs and album titles reference marijuana and as you’ve discussed on my radio show it helps a lot of artist’s focus and flow. Why do you think mainstream culture fears this particular drug?

I think a lot of people dislike marijuana because it’s been implanted in their heads that it’s a “drug,” when we all know it’s just a plant. It truly does open a whole different thought process. All I can say is you can’t knock it till you try it.

Last year you had the opportunity to perform on stage multiple times in front of formidable size crowds. What was your first reaction? Were you a natural?

My first reaction was “Whoa! Are all these people are here to see me?!” It turned out they were because once I was done everyone left. I rocked the stage the first time I got on and really had the crowd rocking with me so it was a huge confidence boost. I won’t lie. That first show I was nervous as hell, but once I hit the stage and saw the crowd I was like “damn I really gotta go hard” and that’s exactly what I did. After that first show, it was smooth sailing, so I suppose I was kind of a natural with performing.

If your fans and listeners get one thing from your music, what do you hope that would be?

I hope that they understand that they aren’t the only ones in the world who feel a certain way. I came from nothing so obviously I don’t really talk about materialistic things because that’s not me. I speak on things that I have gone through and how I deal with things.

SOCIAL NORMS by beckie cannons

I’ve long believed social media was going to disappear up its own arse hole in the same way email did with spam. In fact, email just got worse with social media notifications. It’s more crap to just tell you about some other rubbish.

And it’s that rubbish that I want to talk about. How can we get social media back to what it’s supposed to be: a social communication tool?

U

nlike email where you had to type in all the addresses, with social media you can simply collect friends with a few clicks (and I can never stop myself accepting) and your new found friends are free to post all sorts of meaningless drivel. It even suggests friends you should know. CLICK! The problem is, it is doing our thinking for us.

Social media platforms are growing, but in doing so they are racing to the bottom, not the top, and taking us with them.

Let me explain what I mean. Put your hand in the air (right up in the air, way above your head so I can see you from London) if you’ve ever found yourself looking at pointless videos and then taking the next recommended video when the last one finished. Keep your hand in the air if you’ve stalked. You know, like exboyfriends, ex-girlfriends, wife, husband, colleague, classmates to see what they’ve been up to. Keep it there if you’ve reposted a picture or video you didn’t create just because you thought it was funny. Now, how many of

84 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

you then regretted the time you wasted doing it? Brilliant! All of us.

Winston Churchill once said, “You create your own universe as you go along.” He might have been right back in the 1930s, but today social media creates our universe and we’re just passengers. We have to take control back again.

Social media is here to stay. We’ve still got to work out if the “Arab Spring” is actually going to be a good thing, but without question it has bought people together. I just hope it’s not in a polarizing fashion that creates a real world divide as well as the virtual one. Like Spiderman, “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

So we actually need to help each other out with social media and use it as a tool to inform and educate, not to advertise and waste our lives. The social media sites are now just full of rubbish and rot. Why? Because we let it be that way! The saying “if you’ve got nothing positive to say then say nothing at all” should be extended to “if you’ve got nothing to say, then shut the fuck up.”

Why do people feel they have to fill the space up with meaningless shit? Unlike real life, you can choose not to spend time with people, but with social media you’re stuck in a room with them. Those pointless pictures of fluffy pussycats, “like this” to save an iguana in Mongolia, join this group to stop getting cancer. Come on people and you know who you are. Write something of your own with just a little bit of thought rather than just pasting someone else’s shit. It’s plain laziness and it tells me you are lazy.

In an effort to remove myself of such worthless people I’ve now adopted a policy of ‘two strikes and you’re out.’ If I can see two piles of pointless crap on my feed from the same person you’re gone, along with your fluffy pussies.

If we all adopted this policy, I think we could isolate this social virus or at least confine it to only those people and let them share this dreary diarrhea with each other in their own cesspit of lazy despair.

Let’s make social media something a little more useful again!

Opinion.

Surrealism.

Extraterrestrialism.

Live from the Underground

Every Sunday TheFabulousDShow.com

we asked our featured artists, musicians and thinkers about their four favorite things

Cristabel Christo Le Tour de France. Because it is much more than a cycle race. Like millions of French people, during July I fit my schedule around following developments in the race.

The artwork by Marcel Duchamp called Etant donnés. It was his final major piece of work and he secretly worked on it from 1946 to 1966 in his Greenwich Village studio while even his closest friends thought he had abandoned art. It consists of a tableau that is only visible through small peep holes in a wooden door. It is composed of bricks, the door itself, velvet, twigs, a female form made of parchment, glass, linoleum, an assortment of lights, a landscape composed of hand-painted and photographed elements and an electric motor housed in a cookie tin which rotates a perforated disc.

Wine.

Fast cars.

sirpaul Paul Salvatore Petersen (Never have I met a more beautiful, patient, kind, loving, honest and incredibly sexy human being. I married him and I’m gonna be by his side until I take my last breath) My iMac G5 (It is the most important thing I own and if anything happens to it I spontaneously combust.

Nars “Black Moon” Eyeliner Pencil (it’s how I turn into a rockstar!)

Glycolic Acid (Get all the dead skin off of your body... it’s gross and it’s making you dull.)

86 www.fourculture.com | ISSUE FIVE

model kaos Alex: My four favorite podcasts: Any of DJ Bronxelf’s sets at GOTHIKA DJ CruelBrittaina’s FADEOUT podcast Dark Horizons radio’s weekly podcast and Guys With Issues podcast K.G.: My drums: kept me going on, all over the last 25 years..

My Mac: without, MODEL KAOS wouldn’t exist MODEL KAOS, without, I couldn’t realize my music ideas My band, without it, I would be nothing!

SE: I assume human beings are not “things,” so let’s take: A notepad A pencil: It’s funny to read things I wrote myself so long ago that I cannot even remember having written them. Well, sometimes it’s not funny at all, but then again it’s fascinating. It’s like talking to a person you vaguely know and know very well at the same time. Anyway, taking down thoughts also helps you in understanding them better.

A guitar: doesn’t need any explanation.

Books: because I’m a book junkie, I cannot go without.

needle factory Freddy: Cake Unicorns Nuclear weapons Tammy Wynette Johna: Sharon Needles Megalodons Punk Chips

GD Falksen Old books. I love reading books in general, but there's just something beautiful about the look, smell, and feel of a well-aged book while you read it.

Tea. I'm a consummate tea drinker and I also firmly believe that tea is the preferred drink of a gentleman, which I endeavor to be at all times.

Suits. I am a big fan of wearing suits. I think they are fantastic garments and rightly the cornerstone of a man's wardrobe.

Tweed. Tweed is a fantastic fabric. It's stylish, comfortable, hardwearing, and it looks great.

Anna Rose My dog, Joplin. She’s named after Janis Joplin. She is the love of my life. I’ve had her since she was three months old and she’s five now. She’s been in the recording process on both my albums.

toneazy

My cat, Dita. She’s named after Aphrodite. I love my cat and my dog very much.

Skateboarding

Music

Pierogies. I am obsessed with them now. I love pierogies.

Girls

Platform shoes. I’m really excited that platforms are somewhat in style now cuz I’m really short. Not the ugly pleathery ones, but I’m very thankful for platforms because I’m Prince-sized. I love rocking the platform shoes.

Football

youthkills James: Midnight express, Robert Smith, Portobello Market & Berlin Andy: Steak frites with a nice glass of red wine. I mean, come on!

That feeling you get when you crack a new song.

That’s kinda why I do it.

Cold beers. Who doesn’t?

New headphones. More addictive than crack.

ISSUE FIVE

| www.fourculture.com 87

coming to

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

Dead Red Velvet Delhi 2 Dublin Brendan Maclean and more . . .